There have been many historic fires in the history, from the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago in 1903 to the Station Nightclub in Rhode Island in 2003. Each fire has its own significant outcome, whether it was meager and non-historic or devastating and tragic. Every fire or flame that has burned on this world, mankind has more knowledge of this chemical reaction and the destruction it can cause. In 24 BC, the Roman emperor, Augustus instituted a corps of “watchmen”. This is when the regulations for checking and preventing fires came into effect. During this era, watchmen in the cities to sound off alarms if a fire where to happen. Their primitive equipment for fire suppression at this time was either a lone bucket or a supplementary amount depends on the size of the flame. Shortly thereafter, the Romans would start using axes in home burnings to have the smoke and flames escape the building. In a major forest fire Romans would use, long hooks attached to ropes to pull down buildings to stop incoming fire spread In 1666, after the Great Fire in London, fire brigades were first formed by insurance companies. It was not until two hundred years later the government was involved and created these brigades creating London’s Fire brigade. These brigades were the first public service to develop modern standards of operation. The fire chief at this brigade appointed 80 aides to participate in fire drills and night training. In 1830 he wrote the first book on fire operations. This book had nearly 400 standards and set forth how a good department should deliver exceptional service. It was until 1648 that the first public fire department was formed in the United States. After a disastrous fire in Boston 1631, the city prohibited thatc... ... middle of paper ... ...n are thinking of new ideas to prevent and suppress fires by going back and look at historic fires. It will be only be a matter of time until the single greatest fire disaster happens and a way to prevent and suppress fire in every situation with no loss of lives. Works Cited Sturzenbecker, Michael J., ed. Fire Detection and Suppression Systems. Forth ed. Oklahoma City: Fire Protection Publications Oklahoma State University, 2010. 9-11. Print. Fire Protection Handbook. 20thth ed. N.p.: National Fire Protection Association, 2008. N. pag. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. . NAED. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. http://www.emergencydispatch.org/. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. .
At 2215 hrs, on November 28, 1942, Fire Alarm Headquarters from Box 1514, situated at Stuart and Carver streets, received an alarm. When the responding apparatus arrived they found a small car fire at the corner of Stuart Street and Broadway. After the fire was extinguished the firefighters were about to return to quarters when their attention was called to smoke emanating from the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub a few doors away. Upon their arrival at the entrance of the Broadway lounge on Broadway they encountered numerous people leaving the premises admidst the cries of “fire”. The chief in charge immediately ordered that a third alarm be sounded from Alarm Box 1521 which the alarm was received by fire alarm headquarters at 2223 hrs. A civilian sent an alarm that was received at 2220 by fire alarm headquarters. As soon as the chief in charge realized that the immediate problem was one of rescue he ordered that a fourth alarm (received at 2224) and a fifth alarm (received at 1102) be sent. The apparatus responding was comprised of 25 engine companies, 5 ladder companies, 1 water tower company, 1 rescue company and various other apparatus. 18 hose steams for cooling purposes and three ladders were utilized (located at Piedmont, Broadway, and Shawmut for venting operations).
Brannigan, Francis L, and Glenn P. Corbett. Brannigan's Building Construction for the Fire Service. Sudbury, MA: National Fire Protection Association, 2007. Print.
On the fateful and unforgettable afternoon of June 17, 1972 Hotel Vendome experienced yet another fire. Actually it experienced several fires in different locations on this date. Electricians working on the first floor reported smoke coming from the upper floors, and a bartender reported smoke in the basement. All occupants in the basement café were safely escorted out, and 3 engine companies, 2 ladder companies, and 1 District Chief arrived on scene noticing ...
Fire safety education is a crucial aspect of fire prevention. The general public needs to know how big of a threat fire is to them and how they can do things in their everyday lives to improve their safety, as well as preventing the threat of fire to begin with. The commission also realized that it was critically important that people know how to properly act once a fire has started. It is important that people have the knowledge to act quickly, safely, and effectively. When people don’t understand fire they can react in many negative ways such as panicking, not evacuating effectively, or by trying to fight a fire that they are not going to be able to extinguish. All these human reactions can decrease safety and end with tragic results. In the commission’s report they approximate that nearly 70 percent of all building fires were due to people acting carelessly because they did not understand the fire dangers that were present. The commission cited studies like one conducted in southeast Missouri. In the southeast Missouri community, a huge emphasis was put into public fire safety education because the fire death rate of the community was much higher than the national average. After increasing fire safety education in the community it was no surprise that the rate of deaths and injuries decreased
The fire service was started by Benjamin Franklin in 1748. In order to have what they called the bucket brigade come to your home, you must have a plaque on the front of your home showing you have fire insurance. Today we respond no matter what. If you call 911, we will be there.
The difference between a fire that is warm and friendly and one that is ferociously hot and destructive is size. A small fire in a campsite can take the edge off the cool night air, and a raging forest fire can destroy a thousand acres in a few hours. Fire has been one of our most important tools on our journey from the beginning of time to the present day. It also poses a severe threat to mankind if it is not controlled. Children often experiment with fire. Any time a child starts a fire he endangers himself and the people around him. Juvenile arson happens on a routine basis, and has very outreaching consequences. Fires statistics reported by fire departments in 2003, show that children started approximately forty-two thousand fires, causing an estimated one-hundred sixty-five civilian deaths, nineteen hundred civilian injuries and two-hundred seventy-two million dollars in direct property damage (United States Fire Administration, 2004). The price that society pays for juvenile-set fires is extremely high. Tragically, the lives of the very children setting the fires account for most of the lives that are lost.
Before the fire broke out on Sunday night, October 8, 1871 there had been a large drought causing everything to be dry and extremely flammable. Many fires had been breaking out in Chicago. Records show that in 1870 the fire fighters went to nearly 600 fires. On Saturday night there had been a large fire that destroyed about four blocks and lasted for 16 hours. Another reason why everything in Chicago was so flammable was because almost the entire city was made out of wood. It was a lot worse in the middle class and poor sections of the town (19). Just about every house was made out of wood. Even buildings that claimed to be fire proof had wood roofs covered with tar. The richer part of town had stone and brick homes, but wooden interiors, wooden stables, and wooden storage buildings (Cromie, 81). Chicago was built on marshland and every time it rained the city flooded, so to help this problem the roads were made out of wood and elevated above the waterline. The day the fire started there were over 55 miles of pine-block street and 600 miles of wooden sidewalks. “Chicago in 1871 was a city ready to burn,” according to Jim Murphy, author of The Great Fire (Murphy, 18).
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.
Varone, J. C. (2012). Legal considerations for fire & emergency services (2nd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.
Throughout recorded history, fires have been known to cause great loss of life, property, and knowledge. The Great Fire of London was easily one of the worst fires mankind has ever seen causing large scale destruction and terror. Samuel Pepys described the fire as “A most malicious bloody flame, as one entire arch of fire of above a mile long… the churches, houses and all on fire and flaming at once, and a horrid noise the flames made.” (Britain Express 1).
The Great Chicago Fire occurred during October 8th and 9th of 1871. The weeks leading up to this disaster were spent with an extremely watchful eye on the city due to the lack of rain. So, one spark or one small fire could start an extremely large fire because of how much wood had been used to build the city. There were even warnings given in form of a building inspection department idea that would inform the city that the buildings were “shoddily constructed firetraps”, according to the Tribune at the time. However, the city did nothing about the proposed problem of a dangerous fire breakout and paid the price.
# Coleman, Ronny J., et al.Fighter's Handbook: Essentials of Firefighting and Emergency Response. Delmar/Thompson Learning, Stamford, CT, 2000.
HM Government (2008) Fire and Rescue Manual, Volume 2, Fire Service Operations, Incident Command, 3rd Ed.
In this essay, I will be defining and explain how four modern fire science researches has impacted fire science. Those 4 are infrared imaging, GPS, water mist and compressed air foam. These four have played a huge role in today’s research on detecting and extinguishing fires.
Sunday September 2, 1666 at 2 a.m. was the day when the fire began (Cowie, 59). It had all began in a baker’s house due to a spark that was “left” in one of his ovens. ‘”, all that was needed was a spark. This was provided at the house of Thomas Farynor, the King’s baker in Pudding Lane…”’ (“London’s Burning: The Great Fire”, 1). In this area was known as a poor area and it was also very dirty. All the houses were made out of wood, which fed the fire and it started to spread. The baker’s house was the first house to burn down and that is also where the first tragedy took place. The wind was strong during this time and as it blew it would push the fire and help it spread through the city. The people started waking up due to the smell of the smoke and they tried to put the fire out as fast as they could. The fire fighters even tired to stop the fire but it was to big for one truck to handle. One of the residents ran to the Mayors house to warm him of what was happening. When told of what was happening, “…the L...